12/2

I woke up is pretty significant pain in the middle of the night last night. I was sleeping on Ethan’s bed at the apartment. He had decorated it with Christmas lights pre-transplant. As I mustered all my might, to sit up, with debilitating waves of pain that made me immediately nauseous, my head got caught in a loop of the Christmas lights. I choked a little, it hurt as I thought I was being assaulted by something but was finally able to stand and shuffle my way to the bathroom.

I ended up taking another pain pill as they had cut my dose in half to go home. I was able to fall back to sleep in the couch and it felt better for me to sleep there.

This morning, I woke up pretty sore and bloated. My stomach hurt so bad. I had a few goals for myself. Walk, drink a lot, eat some protein and do my breathing exercises to avoid pneumonia.

Kristen, my sister in law, was my nurse today. She helped me get off the couch, got me things to eat, however I felt so bloated, it was hard to eat. I give her 5 stars. It took me about 4 hours to eat a container of Greek yogurt.

I completed all my tasks as well as took a shower. However I felt pretty lousy the entire day. It has to get worse before it gets better right?

I reached out to my doctor about the pain medication. He said I could double up but I could also just try Tylenol. Um. No! Today is NOT the day.

I had a mini breakdown when Paul got home from the hospital. How am I going to do this and feel this bad? Paul and Kristen assured me that I would have support until I felt better and that I had time. Paul had also discovered he had gotten a damn parking ticket and was not happy about the “stupid parking rules”. Parking is just not an issue in our neck of the woods.

Because I was soooooooo bloated and sore, I kept moving to try to alleviate the gas by ah-hem, love puffs.  I call them love puffs because it sounds nicer and more feminine than “farting”. Paul has argued in the past that he is concerned about the “love puffs” and think they should be renamed “hate puffs”. Having surgery definitely brings out the disgusting side of humans. I don’t really care for it.

I have been told that it will be quite monumental when my bowels decide to evict their contents. Another glamorous side effect from surgery. They have me in a few different medications to aid in the process. I am a bit terrified that there may be some sort of explosion and may have to go back to surgery with all the pressure in my guts. Again, not a very lady-like process at all. At least I have the privacy of a bathroom.

Ethan is doing well. They said he would be feeling pretty good. His blood pressure went a little high. But he was doing laps today and more importantly, HIS KIDNEY VALUES ARE IN THE NORMAL RANGE. Mine are a little elevated but that is to be expected.

They are talking about moving Ethan to the regular floor tomorrow. He will get out his urinary catheter out and he will be ready for the regular floor.

I am hoping to start feeling better each day. This bloating is no joke.